Intertextual links in Greek teenagers’ everyday English literacy practices flowing from their popular culture interests

This presentation draws on an ethnographically oriented multiple case study on the everyday English literacy practices of fifteen Greek teenagers (aged 14-15) in order to explore the ways their literacy practices relate to their various forms of pop culture interests in music, films or sports (skateboarding, football etc.). Theoretically and methodologically the study is rooted in ethnographically oriented research on literacy practices and socio-cultural approaches to language learning (Barton, 2001; Lantolf and Thorne, 2006). Drawing on different sets of data and the notion of “transmedia intertextuality” (Kinder, 1993), my aim is to highlight intertextual aspects of teenagers’ interest-driven engagement with various forms of global popular culture entertainment across different types of media eventually hoping to illustrate that their everyday literacy practices in English consist of an extended web of thematically interconnected literacy events. In particular, I demonstrate how their participation in everyday English literacy practices is characterized by intertextuality, circulation of texts and media and genre crossings often ‘traveling’ across a permeable home-school barrier as teenagers follow and explore the intertextual links that are triggered by their pop culture interests. I conclude my presentation by discussing broader implications for English language pedagogy and literacy research. REFERENCES Barton, D. (2001). Directions for literacy research: analysing language and social practices in a textually-mediated world. Language and Education, 15(2&3), 92-104. Kinder, M. (1993). Playing with power in movies, television and video games: From “Muppet Babies” to “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”. California: University of California Press. Lantolf, J.P & Thorne, S.L. (2006). Sociocultural theory and the genesis of second language development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.